


Playing back their conversation

by Get_below_my_line_of_vision



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Background Combeferre/Courfeyrac, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 19:42:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16001975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Get_below_my_line_of_vision/pseuds/Get_below_my_line_of_vision
Summary: Enjolras is oblivious to his feelings towards Grantaire, so Combeferre suggests him to wear a recording device in his next meeting so he could listen to his 'arguments' with Grantaire. Maybe he would find out the arguments weren't as hate-fuelled as he believed it was.





	1. Chapter 1

One does not have logic when in love. Enjolras knew this. Clearly. He was serious, he was strong in words, he was brave, he was a leader.  
All that crumbled away, by what? Grantaire's smile? Yes. Of all things, it was because of him.  
Without context, this may seem like not much, but knowing Grantaire's personality and character, in which Enjolras knew well, this occurance was a peculiar, yet strangely satisfying event.

When there was a meeting in the Café Musain, there were several members everyday, of course there's Enjolras who never missed a day, and there's Combeferre who is like the glue of the group, there's Joly and Bousset who chat in the background about the day's topic, Feuilly and Bahorel who talk about love, whether about a person or a country, then there's Coufeyrac who has dreams and hope, Jehan who writes poems for fun and as a habit, and Marius who whines in a song. Then there's Grantaire. If they were in a story, he would have been a background character. Against all odds, however, Grantaire was able to snatch everyone's attention, or so Enjolras thought. Turned out, everyone but Enjolras was able to tune the ugly voice out of their heads, and whenever Enjolras and Grantaire had a 'debate', all would turn to the person beside them and start talking for they did not hear Grantaire's slurry voice, but acknowledged that Enjolras was about to rant. 

So, Enjolras sometimes thought, why was Grantaire's voice so captivating? It certainly wasn't because of the words from his mouth. Maybe, it was another reason regarding his mouth? Enjolras immediately burnt that thought as soon as it appeared. Nonsense. He treated Grantaire like he treated the rest of his friends.  
One time, he spoke that very opinion out loud in his place of stay, and since he was living with Combeferre at the time, and because he was unfortunately present of that specific time, he was quick to shut down Enjolras' obliviousness. "How about the next time you see Les amis de l'ABC, you bring a recorder with you." Combeferre suggested, pretending to be casual about a thought he had been revising for some time.  
"Why?"  
"Because then, my dear Enjolras, you can play back your day as soon as you get home."  
"Why would I want to do that?"  
"I just want you to do that," After a short delay, Combeferre stretched out a smile.  
Enjolras held his friends close to his heart, and found uncomfortable to ignore their opinions. So he followed Combeferre's instructions.

The meeting was about to start, and Enjolras pressed the button on the recorder. He still had no clue what such an act would lead to. For a few moments, he didn't know where to place the device. He checked his pockets.  
Courfeyrac, who was sitting next to Combeferre at the time, glanced over to R, who seemed to be smiling over the sight of Enjolras struggling with everyday tasks. For a second, he thought the smile was of ill-intention. Although the longer he watched, he was able to see the softness of the curve on R's lips, the dim lights (which was very bright for Grantaire since they seemed so dark all the time) in his eyes, and his pale skin presenting a certain warm colour.  
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Combeferre whispered in his ear.  
Courfeyrac didn't need him to explain what his comment meant. He knew he was talking about how the two of them never really..noticed each other. They knew of their differences in politics, but not of the other's emotions. Usually, it was vice versa. For a normal human being, anyway.  
Courfeyrac, sat in his seat for a while. 'They...are humans, right?' To be fair, he saw, once, Grantiare lift an entire barrel of alcohol to drink it. Thankfully, it wasn't in one gulp. The other time, he had spent the night at Combeferre's house, and he heard Enjolras repeat a speech he would make the next day in his sleep, while also reciting a page of a law book. Courfeyrac knew because he studied law. Meanwhile, Enjolras didn't.

The time had come to argue when Enjolras spoke one ambiguous sentence that Grantaire objected to. The rest of the members turned to discuss about what Enjolras just had said with the people around them to drown the voices of two very loud people: Enjolras and Grantaire. Only Combeferre, and Courfeyrac, due to Combeferre forcing him, listened into the 'debate'. There were some insults thrown around, a lot of formal vocabularies, at least from Enjolras, while Grantaire tried to match his intelligence, and there were a lot of gentle pushes. Rather, as Courfeyrac would observe as, light touching. While Combeferre whispered, "Flirting".  
When Enjolras was emphasizing the word 'you' multiple times, he would push Grantaire a little every time he said the word. He would make sure they were light, and no way harmful to him. He was a member after all, it was not like he could hurt him. Right?  
All the while, Grantaire shoved Enjolras' hand away with not much strength, or of actual intention of pushing his hands away as soon as they reach his chest or shoulder. In fact, he missed the warmth he had just turned away. His hand just touching Enjolras' was the only reason he pushed his hands away. It was the only time they could casually have physical interactions. Otherwise, Enjolras would question every move Grantaire made. 

(Once, when the group was staring at a map, the people gathered around the table, and Combeferre's 'accidentally' pushed Grantaire next to Enjolras. At then, Grantaire was careful not to bump into to Enjolras, and was so aware of their close distance that he could not concentrate of Enjolras' words. When Enjolras turned around to see Grantaire, he felt blessed for a couple of moments until he realised Enjolras was waiting for him to break into an argument. But since he wasn't paying attention, Grantaire had nothing to say. This was a first to both of them, and they didn't know how to react. Since silence was too awkward, not for the two of them, but of the entire group of people who was just listening to Enjolras, Grantaire decided to just smile; as a way of saying 'Nothing to add. I'm content with what you just said'. Enjolras found this so strange, he just stared. Then he abruptly faced the map, thus the group again as he realised he had been staring at Grantaire for way too long. Grantaire didn't understand his actions. This routine repeated for awhile. ( For example, after this very moment, Grantaire was so lost in thought to calculate Enjolras' actions, he drifted, naturally, towards Enjolras himself. Their waists were touching, but none of them said anything. Mainly because Grantaire didn't notice, and because Enjolras was too busy emerging everyone into his words. After awhile, the touch started to take over Enjolras' thoughts. One touch could not do that, he thought, it must be something else. However, the presence of Grantaire beside him did not leave his mind. So before Enjolras would speak in nonsense because of his mind focusing on unecessary observations, he kindly asked, "What are you doing?" to Grantaire, in which he responded with a confused look. Once he had realised their hips were touching, Grantaire changed his stance so he wasn't leaning on him. To Grantaire, he thought they were touching for three seconds since his attention was elsewhere. Opposite of that, Enjolras' attention was directly on the touch, and for him, the situation felt like burning hours. To him, Grantaire was a wildfire, and if anything, Enjolras played the role of a forest.)

Grantaire made some comments, and Enjolras was quick to fire some back. But every now and then, Grantaire would intentionally say something funny, or behave in a comedic way, Enjolras couldn't help but smile. 

At then end of the day, Enjolras sat down, and played back his recorder, like Combeferre had instructed him to.  
In the muffling noise of his pockets, he heard a loud voice, himself of course, and a distant voice that grew as the producer of the noise came closer to the recording device. Grantaire. Definitely. 

In the midst of their argument, Enjolras was...laughing. At everything Grantaire had mentioned. When he did try to be serious, he spoke with a filter of a smile. Grantiare as a response to Enjolras, laughed along. chuckled, giggled, all that, and all the while Enjolras could not remember this at all.  
He rewinded to make sure to was his voice. It was. Was the second main source of noise Grantaire? It sure was.  
Enjolras looked down in disbelief.

The front door opened, and Combeferre returned from his grocery shopping. He took a second to realise Enjolras was sitting on the sofa. Excitedly, he placed the bags down at the kitchen table, and calmed his voice. "Have you listened to the recordings yet?"  
Enjolras paused, "Yes."  
Combeferre smiled wildly. "What did you notice, then?" He couldn't wait for the answer.  
There was silence throughout the conversation, but this was the longest. Enjolras took his time thinking. "I think I'm in love with Grantaire."


	2. Asking out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjolras tries to ask Grantaire out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since my friend said she desperately wanted to know what happened after the one shot that I wrote.... Here you go. Have fun reading it.

Jehan practically ran into the Musain, stumbling with his school work and poems. He nervously slid next to Marius, the closest member to the door, and whispered carefully, "Enjolras realised he loves Grantaire?" -He rubbed his hands together excitedly,- "I came as soon as I heard."  
Marius smirked, muttering back, "Apparently not soon enough." He leaned into Jehan, "You just missed Enjolras wondering in circles awkwardly before finally walking up to Grantaire."  
"That must have been awkward for Grantaire..." Jehan was stifling a laughter as the best he could.  
Marius mimicked Jehan's reaction, "That poor cynic didn't even realise Enjolras pacing around; his back was facing him, talking to Combeferre who was trying his best not to burst into laughter."  
The two giggled until Feuilly had to nudge them to be quiet.  
The rest of the the l'ABC were watching the two as if watching a tense movie (This became a reality when Gavroche returned back from his errand with popcorn.)

They watched Grantaire talking, his hand lingering on Enjolras' chest for a second or two before he jokingly pushed him in their little 'arguments'. Enjolras, in response, would hold onto Grantaire for balance. For a moment, Enjolras forgot about the whole 'being in love' situation. This was how their relationship has been for as far as he could remember.  
In conclusion, the two were as dumb as a brick in terms of romance.

Sadly, when their conversation ended, Courfeyrac hung his head in disappointment. There had been no progress made in their relationship despite Enjolras' realisation.  
"Hey," Courfeyrac finally shouted.  
Everybody's jaws dropped and unanimously their thoughts were 'don'tsayit-don'tsayit-don'tsayit'.  
"Just say it!" Courfeyrac shoved popcron into his mouth, "Confess--"  
Luckily Musichetta covered his mouth.  
"Your hand is cold as a corpse's," Courfeyrac said as if the hand didn't exist on his face.  
"Ironic since you're probably going to be dead meat." She spoke as if she was going to bite him.

All at once, the Les Amis turned to watch Enjolras' response; they expected shouting and walking out. Instead, he just stood there, staring at Courfeyrac, stunned. When he slowly turned to see Grantaire, he immediately avoided his gaze by looking at the ceiling while scratching the nape of his neck.  
Enjolras rigidly turned his head back to his friends, they mirrored Grantaire... Except for Courfeyrac. His eyeline didn't even budge. He pressed on, staring harder, scoffing in a bubbling laugh.

Clueless Enjolras, not knowing what to do, turned to face Grantaire yet once again, his head spinning. Surely he must've figured it out, he thought, Otherwise, he's the most oblivious person to ever take a step on earth.  
However in the midst of Enjolras' inner panic, he noticed Grantaire was not present in front of him.  
Then, Enjolras heard a laughter finally burst out of Courfeyrac. When he whipped his head to him, charging, Courfeyrac calmed himself down and whisper, "You're not going to confess to me, are you?"  
Enjolras froze in his face and almost cocked his head sideways, like a cartoon animal would've. (The difference was this was Enjolras' real body language, and not of an exaggerated drawing.)  
Anyway, Courfeyrac elaborated, "So why walk to me?"  
Musichetta interrupted, "He means you're supposed to go after Grantaire. He ran off like a rolling red tomato whole you were staring at us."  
Bosuet sniggered besides her, holding her hand. "He went out that way." He nodded to a door.  
Enjolras responded by looking at Combeferre, his best friend.  
'Ferre just shrugged. "What do you want me to do? Chase him for you?"  
Enjolras stood dazed; he couldn't believe this was happening- when he realised he loved Grantaire, he didn't place too much thought. He thought about asking him on a date, but never bothered with the details. Now it's biting him in the ass.  
"I'm going to go," Enjolras nodded to himself, muttering, "To Grantaire."  
"Great," 'Ferre shrugged.  
"Wasn't talking to you," Enjolras limped away, every step increasing with speed of excitement.

Outside, Enjolras couldn't find Grantaire lingering out in the open. Then he decided he was going to shout his name. The very thought of him made him blush really hard, but he needed to talk to Grantaire at that moment. He wanted to.  
"Courfeyrac says many things-- many stupid things," a voice located right next to him spoke.  
Turned out, Enjolras thought Grantaire ran out, but that seemed to have not been the case.  
"Yeah," Enjolras murmured until he remembered he was supposed to confess to him.  
"Don't believe anything he says," Grantaire placed a cigarette in his mouth and, with his doey eyes, looked at Enjolras, "He thinks--"  
"Grantaire," Enjolras pulled out a lighter and let the sparks eat the end of Grantaire's cigarette, "What- What did you think Courfeyrac meant?"  
Grantaire turned bright red- not that Enjolras had noticed. He avoided Enjolras' gaze. After a long while, he answered, "Courfeyrac thinks... I love... Somebody."  
"Somebody," breathed Enjolras, his posture relaxing, "Who?"  
Grantaire couldn't even smoke properly, he was increasingly panicking, "No one you know."  
"Really?" Enjolras lifted his eyebrows.  
"Yeah, no. I don't know why I said that," Grantaire rubbed the back of his neck, "It's someone you know."  
"Do I know them well?" Enjolras rested his hand on Grantaire's arm.  
"Uh," He wasn't used to Enjolras' physical touches unless they were arguing or joking around. Thus, he knew this conversation must've been a special one, though he was not sure why yet, "Very- Very well."  
Enjolras did it again: he forgot he was touching Grantaire. For a moment he tried to retract his hand, but a gnawing thought commanded him to get closer. Go and explore. So, Enjolras placed his other hand on Grantaire's other arm and looked him straight into his sleepless, tired eyes. "Courfeyrac was talking to me unfortunately. He found out who I love."  
Grantaire's eyes lit up, "Who?"  
Enjolras broke into a grin, "Someone you know very well."  
Grantaire started to blush harder, mainly due to seeing Enjolras grin like there was no tomorrow. "Oh."

Enjolras dropped his hands- his warm hands, that left Grantaire wanting to touch him, to hold him. "Enjolras, you see--"  
"What's holding us back?" Enjolras interrupted sternly.  
Grantaire froze, not comprehending the question.  
'We clearly like each other,' Enjolras mouthed. (Although he seemed very confident, his legs were partly shaking.)  
There may as well have been ellipses hovering over Grantaire's head as he deciphered the situation in his mind. He repeated slowly, murmuring to himself, "What is holding us back..."  
When Grantaire lifted his eyes up to Enjolras, he began to slowly smile, imitating his expression.  
His movements natural, Grantaire gravitated towards Enjolras, his Apollo, as his lips sunk into his. As he kissed harder, the more excitement and hunger infected him. He wanted more. He wanted Enjolras.  
Finally, Grantaire began to laugh while kissing. When Enjolras drew back, his look of confusion was soon gone when Grantaire calmed and kissed him again. What he had thought of was 'What really was holding us back?'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The answer to the question was Enjolras being oblivious. If only Combeferre slapped some sense into him earlier... Much earlier. Then their romance could've bloomed then. Oh well, nothing like the present, right?


	3. Chapter 3

It had been years since they had first been dating... 5 years or so? It surely didn't feel like that long. Mainly due to Enjolras' constant fixed schedule of protesting, protesting, and, of course, protesting. Sometimes Grantaire felt invisible to him. Even his kisses felt robotic like he planned the slot for a quick kiss at exactly 19:05. The biggest worry for Grantaire was whether Enjolras was human. Well, it was true that Enjolras' nickname had been 'Apollo' for quite some time, but he was never really serious about viewing him as a god. But the whole robotic act did sway him a little into believing he may have been a machine. 

"Hi R," Enjolras kissed Grantaire's forehead in the morning as he was drinking coffee.  
"What's the plan today?" Grantaire sleepily spoke.  
Enjolras paused for a moment, as if waiting for him to elaborate. "What do you mean?"  
Grantaire stared deeply into his blue eyes. He shrugged, "I mean you always seem busy."  
Enjolras simply replied "Nope. Not today."  
All R could manage was a smile. A very confused smile, sure, but still filled with content. 

When the two arrived to the Musain as usual, Les Amis hushed for some reason. They later grouped up and ambushed Grantaire, almost tearing him away from Enjolras.  
"Um, am I missing something?" Grantaire asked in confusion.  
The group of friends just shook their heads despite their smiles of excitement.  
"I am forgetting something, aren't I," He nodded, "Go on. Tease me. I'd like to know."  
Instead, everyone just sighed and dispersed into their tables in which they came from. Meanwhile Grantaire was just left, confused by the entire ordeal. 

When he came to sit down, all eyes shifted to him. Uncomfortable, Grantaire stood and burst into questioning, "Seriously, what am I missing? Is it a special day? Have I gone back in time and you guys don't know me?"  
Some laughed, and the rest smiled as they looked back at Enjolras, as they always did. Then, Enjolras looked at Les Amis disappointedly (it still felt weird to see Enjolras disappointed without Grantaire being the receiver) and continued his plan on their next protest.  
Just as usual, Grantaire zoned out, letting words fly above him. Years ago he would use this precious time to stare at Enjolras' amazing face, but R had gotten so used to him now, he was only swimming in deep thought.  
Then, Musichetta leaned in, next to him, breaking his immersion into imagination, "Today's an important day for Enjolras. Hopefully, it'll be yours too."  
Grantaire turned in confusion. Jehan, sitting next to her, almost slapped his hand on his face out of his disappointment of Grantaire's majorly slow thought process.  
Grantaire stood up rigidly, then walked awkwardly outside.  
Everyone shuffled nervously but Enjolras kept talking about the next protest.

Smiling as widely as Enjolras could when genuinely happy, he strode after the meeting outside only to be greeted with shadows and the friendliness of darkness rather than his boyfriend. He was sucked dry of confidence and travelled back to his apartment, lonely. Although Grantaire was in the room they shared, he didn't go through their usual routine of small talk and chats. Instead, R seemed to have gotten changed and was about to get underneath the bedsheets to finally give farewell to this bizarre day. His Apollo only sighed and sat on his side of his bed in his outside clothes.  
"What day was it today?" R finally murmured, "It's definitely not your birthday... It's not a national holiday... Did something happen with your protest? Should I congratulate you?"  
When Enjolras turned to see R, he saw his dark eyes in the midst of the pitch darkness. It had always been that way. Before Enjolras even thought about tolerating Grantaire, he was always able to spot him, no matter how dark the room was, no matter how hectic the day was, and no matter how large of the crowd was... Enjolras could always rely on finding his face (either for reassurance when panicking, or when he was proving a point to his friend that Grantaire was always on his mind due to him orbiting around him in his daily life-- although the past Enjolras had not realised all his friends also mirrored the actions of Grantaire yet they did not consume his thoughts.)  
"R," He almost laughed, "It's our anniversary."  
En cue dead silence. "We never celebrated it," Grantaire blurted out.  
Enjolras shrugged, "And we won't. Were not types of people who celebrate such things."  
Then Grantaire thought for a couple of seconds, "What about how Les Amis were acting?"  
Enjolras brought his finger to his chin, "Because I had something planned."  
"Oh," Grantaire's eyes drooped down, "Sorry."  
"Why are you sorry?" Enjolras shrugged once more, "You don't know what you're apologising for."  
Grantaire had now lost interest in the conversation. If Enjolras did not want to speak about his plans, there was no need for further prompting. The blond was stubborn as a rock fighting against the infinite waves of erosions.

This break in talking allowed Enjolras to comfortably change. Meanwhile, he tried to fill the void, "Although I did think of the moment I chased you outside of the Musain... When we kind of confessed to one another."  
"You didn't chase me," Grantaire muttered sleepily.  
"You ran away," Enjolras grinned, "Then I remembered what I said in the midst of panic."  
"You... Weren't panicking..."  
"I was!" Enjolras was very defensive on this matter, "I felt my legs shaking and the ground I stood on become weak. I loved you. I didn't want to get rejected."  
Tiredness was zapped out of Grantaire as he sat up, facing Enjolras, "I'm pretty sure I was very obvious in how I felt about you."  
"For years I didn't even realised I loved you. How could I notice how you felt about me?"  
Grantaire scratched his nose.  
"Outside of Musain, I said one sentence- well I didn't technically say it; I was too embarrassed."  
"'What's holding us back?'"  
"Yeah..." Enjolras reached for his drawer, "I know you don't like dramatic things." In his hand, was a ring. A simple one. Not rusty nor shiny. A simple ring. "And I've been thinking for a year now... Really, what's holding us back?"  
Grantaire sucked in a breath. "How do we know this can work- that this relationship is not going to fall apart?"  
Enjolras carefully placed his hand on R's shoulder with an expression that showed he knew this question was going to be Grantaire's first reaction to the proposal, "How many years have we been dating, R? Five?" Grantaire shrugged. "Exactly. Do you know why we don't know exactly?"  
"Because we don't celebrate anniversaries so we didn't place a significance on the date?"  
"No," Enjolras grinned, "Because we already acted like we were dating."  
"We did?"  
"Yeah. And do you know our friends labelled us as?"  
Grantaire's smile began to grow.  
"A married couple." Enjolras whispered.  
"We did bicker like an old couple."  
"Exactly. So if we survived all those years dating, why not just... Do it? Marry. What is there holding us back?"  
Grantaire began to laugh, nodding along to every word, "What is holding us back?" He leaned in and kissed Enjolras, almost forgetting about the ring.  
"So that's a yes?"  
"If you'd allow it, I'd love to marry you."  
The two grinned like idiots and kissed once more in the darkness of their bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to think on the next day, when there's natural light, Grantaire has a wtf look at the ring as he could finally see it clearly.


End file.
